One stormy night, the occupants of 221b Baker Street receive an unexpected visitor. An old colleague of Dr. Watson, Dr. Alexander Verner, comes to them with an extraordinary tale. He was requested to make a house call to someone complaining of stomach pains, but not before he was blindfolded and taken by carriage to the house. Once there, he realized that the patient did not have stomach pains and was actually signaling for help. Unfortunately, he was unable to convince the captors that the man needed to be hospitalized, so upon being returned to London, he came strait to the Watsons and the daughter of Sherlock Holmes. As the crew begin their investigation, it quickly becomes apparent that this is yet another national intelligence case and it appears to involve German spies as well as a group of unorthodox code breakers for the Royal Navy. As the group unravels the clues, it seems that the German’s always have a head start which can only mean one thing, someone on the inside is working for the Germans. With no time to spare, the group works alongside Scotland Yard and Naval Intelligence to rescue the victim before secrets can be released that will be devasting to Britain’s success in the war.

These books are quickly becoming my favorite mystery series. The demeanor between the three main characters is always entertaining. I always find myself wandering how Joanna will end up solving the case. She is intelligent, attentive, and very persistent. Her character reminds me of Sherlock himself and I enjoyed getting to see the glimpse of her son in this novel. He is very headstrong, but she knows what is best for him but allows him to make his own decisions, even if she might have had a bit of play in determining the outcome. The story is very entertaining and the mystery will have you wrapped up quickly in trying to figure out the whole story, which only Joanna can truly unravel.

Although this is a series, it easily reads as a standalone. Fair warning though, if you do read this first, you will probably want to go buy the first two! If you’re a fan of Holmes or just love a good mystery, give this a try!

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions express within are my own.

Teaming up for the first time, father and daughter Ted and Rachelle Dekker deliver an intense and fascinating read that will leave fans thirsting for them to team up again and again and again.

It has been over ten years since Grace and the rest of her community saw something that would forever change their lives. Since that time, they have lived within the confines of the red rope, a boundary that is supposed to keep them all save from the evil furies of the world. They live under strict rules put in place by Sylous, their leader who only shows himself when necessary and usually only to one in the community, Rose. After so many years, Grace and her brother Jamie wonder if it might be safe to venture outside the rope and see what is happening with the rest of the world. Jamie has gone a few times without any consequences and when they speak up to the community with their concerns, they are sent out further to see what happens. It only takes one night out for them to encounter the Fury and let the community know. While the community lets them return, they are now looked at in a different light. It doesn’t take Jamie long to repent and change to the ways of the community, but Grace has a harder time going back to believing so easily. With each passing day, the things Grace has been taught and believed for the past decade start to unfold before her eyes and she must decide if what she has always believed is still true or trust what she sees.

Anyone that has ever read a Ted Dekker novel knows they are going to be in for a fantastic ride full of fantasy, thrills, emotions and allegorical underlying spiritual tones that can be interpreted in several ways. Dekker has always had a way of pulling readers in and giving them a story that is more than an escape. His newest novel is going to give readers an escape into this world and leave their minds churning long after they turn the last page. While this was a collaboration between him and his daughter, Rachelle Dekker, I found it to be another incredible Dekker novel, no matter it was written by two Dekkers. I can’t tell yet if that gave it strength or not. It is hard to say whose writing is where within the pages. As I have read Rachelle’s novels, I have noticed the influence of her father in her writing; they are good books, but I couldn’t really see her own individual distinct voice. I enjoyed her books and maybe with her style so similar to the Elder Dekker it enhanced the story to make it more than what it would have been without the two writing together. With the two Dekker’s combined, the story takes off and pulls the reader in with no chance of escaping until the story is over. I almost read this in one sitting, if I hadn’t had anything to do, I could have easily finished this in one sitting and I can’t say when the last time I sat with a book and wanted to finish like that was. The authors did a fantastic job of portraying these characters in a way that kept the reader from questioning their actions. The empathy used to reach an emotional level was stunning. I loved Grace and the way she kept her head and tried to solve the ridiculously hard puzzle life was putting in front of her. The evil she goes up against is written in a way we can all relate to in one form or another. I recommend this book to fans of Dekker and those that enjoy a great mystery/thriller. If you have read Ted Dekker before, you will see little snippets that relate to other books he has written, (not in actual characters or settings but similar themes). If you have never read a Dekker book this would be the perfect one to get you hooked.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

A fast-paced, mind-bending thriller that could only come from the likes of Blake Crouch!

It’s 2007 and Alzheimer’s disease is becoming more prevalent with no apparent cure in sight. Helena Smith’s mother is a victim of the disease and she has made it her life’s work to combat the disease with science. As a researcher, she hasn’t made much progress, but all that changes one day when a stranger walks into her lab and offers her an open checkbook to build the contraption that she dreams of: a memory chair. Now secluded on an abandoned oil rig that has been outfitted into a secret laboratory, Helena is making advancements on her chair light years ahead of where she was at Stanford. Once her team finally manages to capture and recreate memories, Helena can’t wait to use it for her mother. But the chair’s mysterious benefactor seems to have other plans for the chair’s use, plans that she never saw coming or thought possible.

Ten years later, New York City cop Barry Sutton is called to a potential suicide jumper. As he tries to talk her off the ledge, she confesses that she has FMS or false memory syndrome. Becoming more prevalent, people are stricken with a second set of false memories of a completely different life that they never lived. In many cases, it drives the person crazy until they commit suicide to escape from the madness. Although Barry tries to persuade her, he is unsuccessful, and she jumps to her death. Experts aren’t sure how the disease is transmitted nor is there any known cure. He only hopes that he hasn’t contracted it from this woman. As Barry investigates what loose ends there are, he finds something that doesn’t add up. What Barry doesn’t realize is that this investigation will set forth a series of events that will change the world as he knows it, and possibly several other alternate worlds too!

Only the mind of Blake Crouch could conjure up a thriller this mind-bending. His previous novel Dark Matter was such an intense read that it stayed with me for days and I kept telling people about it. This was just as intense and will be sure to make my top list for the year. Crouch has a way of making his reader’s question what they think they know. Sure, it’s science fiction, but just think about it if it were true. Disrupting the space-time continuum would cause all out chaos. Where his previous novel dealt with string theory, this one focus in on actually traveling back in time and the ramifications of even living the exact same life over again. He makes theoretical physics fun to read about and will hopefully inspire some future minds to continue developing this type of science. I also just learned that this is going to become a movie on Netflix in 2020, so I highly recommended getting your copy now so that you can digest this awesome read.

There is quite a bit of strong language throughout the book as well as implied sex scenes that is more appropriate for mature audiences.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Cohen Marah has lived near death his whole life. As a young boy, his parents divorced, and his father moved into an apartment above a funeral home. Later, Cohen works as a funeral director with his family. One day, he enters the embalming room and finds his father on the floor, blood everywhere, and an embalming instrument shoved up through his father’s chin. Freaked out because he thinks his father is dead and he is somehow to blame, he exits the room and leaves his father’s body for someone else to find. Much to his surprise, he is called and told that his father is alive but in critical condition at the hospital. The rest of the story takes place in the hospital as Cohen revisits some of his childhood memories and attempts to come to terms with his fragile relationship with his father.

The story bounces between the past and present, with readers finding out a lot about Cohen from the flashbacks. His parents’ divorce is hard on him because they each took a child, so Cohen does not get to see his beloved sister as much as before. He has a hard time making friends, and is especially thrilled when he meets a brother and sister at an abandoned, burned-out trailer that they used to live in. He spends a lot of time with them when he can find them, but they are secretive and very rarely available to spend time with him. Baseball is his one salvation. It ties him and his father together and causes him to meet a girl, Ava, who turns out to be a reliable friend. Present day Cohen turns to the church for healing while his father is fighting for his life, and it brings Ava back to him because she is the detective investigating his father’s injuries. He knows he is a prime suspect, especially because Ava knows his background. Cohen can’t tell for sure if he killed his father, or if his imagination is running away with him. He’s hoping his more frequent meetings with the priest will help him figure it out.

Yes, this synopsis seems helter-skelter, but I promise that if you read through the book, it will make sense. Once I started, I was hooked. I too had a hard time deciding if Cohen’s memories and actions were real or just part of his imagination. It was quick reading because it was so enthralling and fascinating, and yet, by the time it was over, I was just as confused as I had been throughout. I am not sure if that was the author’s intent or if it was just me missing something really big, but I didn’t really get the final resolution of the story.

I really enjoyed the various characters throughout the book; they are messy, human, and ultimately interesting. Cohen’s father’s misguided ways lead his family to shatter, and each family member deals with it in unique ways. For Cohen, he is stuck with a fallen man who doesn’t seem to connect, and Cohen is left to his own devices. His loneliness is a catalyst to a lot of the story, and it’s easy to see how things happen as they do. His mother is just a side note to the majority of the story, but she plays a big part at the end. His sister Kaye is the stability and normalness that Cohen so desperately wants, but being separated from her, he misses out on that.

I did enjoy the whole story until the confusing ending. That is not to say that this is not a good book, but rather, I am one who needs things to be wrapped up at the end. If you enjoy books that leave a lot up to the reader, you will be happy to read Light from Distant Stars.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

As Van Buren and De Luca help the residents of North End Boston, they find themselves investigating their own relationship!

Three years have passed since the infamous case of murder at the Flamingo Club that left Hamish shot on the club floor. His nefarious cousin Luca Valari has vanished back to Chicago but may have an opportunity to return to Boston to pursue some racketeering for the possibility of the United States entering the second great war. Meanwhile, Hamish and Reggie have been building up their investigative practice of Van Buren and De Luca. The pair have grown much closer during the time, but still haven’t crossed any lines of intimacy. They get a call from Pete Kelly, who has been using the harbor area in the North End for black market business for years but keeps the tenants with decent prospects and jobs. The prestigious architectural firm Hyatt and Price (the same firm that the Vaughn of Reggie’s past is employed) is working to develop the area into affordable housing. But after learning of Hamish’s connections to his cousin Luca, Kelly steps away from working with them. Shortly after, Hamish receives a visit from a colored farm league baseball player for the Boston Patriots, Errol Parker. Errol has always been on the receiving end of pranks, but lately they’ve escalated to threats. Hamish and Reggie agree to investigate this and shortly a murder takes place at the stadium. As the investigation continues, all the events that have been taking place begin to become intertwined and it will take both of them to figure it out.

Although three years has passed from when the previous book ended, it was evident that Hamish and Reggie have grown closer. The was a parallel investigation of their personal relationship to that of the murder that was being investigated. It was put through a very trying time in this book and readers will finally get to see what it is made of. The previous book did a great job of setting up a new series including character development and the scenery of the time of the North End of Boston. Since that had already been done, this book just took that previous momentum and carried it forward. There wasn’t as much descriptive scenery, but both Reggie and Hamish continued to develop. Several of the supporting characters from the previous book continued in their progress as well. As a reader, I still didn’t like Vaughn because of his relationship with Reggie, but he was such a good guy and had matured. Dirk of course was still lowly and easy to dislike. I still enjoy the series and will be looking forward to what comes next.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

No matter how much we think we know someone, even the closest to us can be hiding deep, dark secrets that could affect everyone.

It is hard growing up in the shadows of an older sibling you feel can do no wrong. Ryan Gracey has spent her entire life watching her perfect older sister, Wendy. achieve everything she went for. Ryan tried her hardest to be her own person and not live in the shadow of her sister but still got overlooked. Wendy was about to go to college when Ryan was born so the two have never been extremely close. When Wendy calls Ryan saying there has been a murder and she might be accused, Ryan uses her expertise from her podcast looking into cold cases to help figure out what kind of mess her sister has gotten into. All this while taking care of Wendy’s two girls and helping take care of her father who just had heart surgery. The more Ryan digs into the past of her sister, the more sinister things start to look and the more she starts to question what she has always thought was the truth about their lives.

How well do we ever really know someone? Even if they are part of our family, can we ever really know someone? These are great questions that really made me think while reading this book. The beginning started a little slow but once the story started going it really picked up and the last few chapters were irresistible. I loved the way Richards brought about the secrets the family had been keeping and how it all intertwined throughout time and reached farther than Ryan could have realized. I didn’t like or trust Wendy from the very beginning, her story never added up and the lack of emotion she showed for her family was shockingly well written. I enjoyed the relationship that developed between Ryan and her nieces, it wasn’t rushed and felt natural and timed perfectly. Once I got past the first half and had the setup of the story fully established, the story it read quickly and was very enjoyable. If readers want a story that will keep them guessing until the very end they will enjoy this very much.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

A mysterious read that crosses between A Beautiful Mind and Bing Bang Theory.

Margot De Wilde understands mathematics and finds comfort in numbers. After her family fled Belgium at the beginning of the Great War, Margot has found use for her talents as one of the lead codebreakers in the British navy. An unconventional position for a woman at the time, but Margot is quite unconventional herself. She does not notice any of the attentiveness of men and hopes to secure a professorship at a university after the war. While at work one day, she meets a new young lady named Dot, who is to be serving as a secretary. Dot has her own quirks and doesn’t like to leave her house but knows she must. Margot and Dot strike up a mutual friendship where each person can accept their own faults. But when Dot’s brother Drake shows up, things become much more interesting.

Drake Elton serves as a spy for the British navy. Fluent in three languages and having a grandfather in Spain who runs a prosperous shipping business gives him the perfect cover to set up a base of operations there. But after a botched mission lands him in the infirmary in London, Drake dreads the recovery time. His sister Dot comes to visit him quite often as does her friend the mathematician, Margot. Drake has never met anyone like Margot, who is extremely intelligent and can match wits with Drake on any occasion. When remnants from his mission in Spain begin to show up in London, Drake knows that he must return to duty to save his country and Margot.

This was a very entertaining story from the beginning to the last sentence. Margot became my best friend instantly and we had a great adventure throughout the journey. Granted, I’m married to an engineer, so maybe math people are my friends. Even so, the best way that I can describe Margot is like a female Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory. She fully understands numbers and math but is completely oblivious to social norms. The romance between her and Drake evolved in its own time and wasn’t forced like so many books attempt. Everything flowed great and her armor was slowly chipped by Drake until it was worn down and she finally understood what it was to love and be loved. I also appreciated the author weaving faith into the story and the trials and tribulations that Margot had to go through to become the woman she was meant to be.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

If you have never read a James Rubart book, you are missing out! He is one of the best authors I have ever read. The Pages of Her Life is another home run for this very talented author.

Allison Moore thought starting her own architecture firm with her best friend was going to be the best thing ever, no more working in the corporate world and having to answer to others. After her divorce and the death of her father, she needs something good in her life. While she enjoys working with her best friend and not having to answer to anyone, things are tougher than she would like to admit. When her mom tells her that her father had been living a secret double life and has left them almost half a million dollars in debt, she knows she must do something to help. As Allison searches for ways to help, she is gifted a journal which she pours her heart into. With each passing day, her problems seem to intensify and so does the mystery of her new journal. The words she writes in the journal begin to disappear and are replaced by new ones that help her see her situation in a new light.

James Rubart is quickly becoming one of my go to favorite authors. If I see he has a new book coming out, I am all over it. This is the third book I have read by him and it fully lived up to my expectations. His writing style is unlike that of anyone I have read before. He has a way of writing a story that goes so deep with characters that will pull you in better than most. I loved the way Allison and her brother stepped up to help their mom when they found out she was in need. Their mom was trying to do what all moms do and keep her kids from worrying but in the end, they had to come together as a family and work together to solve the difficult problem.

Readers need to go into this book with an open mind for what they will find within the pages. It is not your normal feel good read; this will require readers to go deeper and examine their faith and aspects of their own life. Rubart did an outstanding job of character development with Allison as she goes through trials and tribulations in her personal and professional life. I despised Derek and Linda, but that is ok as these are not characters we are supposed to like, and I loved how real the dislike for them came across. Fans of Rubart’s writing will notice characters from previous novels making an appearance. I almost feel there is a little more that could happen for a few of the characters. The storyline itself wrapped up nicely but I became so invested in these characters I would like to see more with them. I highly recommend this to readers that enjoy a story that will draw them in to the supernatural and explore elements of faith not often written about in such an entertaining and enjoyable story.

What do you do when the person you thought you knew best turns out to be a stranger with a life that you never could have imagined that has now put your life at risk?

Laura has spent the last thirty years protecting herself and her daughter Andrea from her past. A past she isn’t proud of and wants to keep secret. When they go out to celebrate Andrea’s birthday, a shooting throws their world into turmoil. Andrea sees a side of her mother she has never witnessed before and finds out that before her mother was Laura, she was someone completely different. Piece by piece, Andrea works to figure out who exactly her mother is and what is causing her past to attack them all. Without her mother giving her information she needs, Andrea travels across the country collecting the puzzle pieces to put it all together and keep them both alive.

Aside from the incredibly harsh language used throughout the entire novel, this was an incredibly engaging read. The story, the characters, and the predicaments they found themselves in kept me hooked throughout. I loved the concept of the book and how the characters had such intricate pasts that caught up with them in the end. The back and forth timelines took a little bit to keep up with who was who and how it related in the past compared to what was happening in the present timeline. Andy had trouble getting her words and thoughts out at times which was a little irritating, I wanted to see more out of her. I do think she had good growth as a character along with her mother. The “bad guys” didn’t really evolve much for me, they started bad and they stayed that way. This was a very engaging and enjoyable story for me but I do wish the language would have been toned down, it just wasn’t necessary to the extent it was used. I do recommend this to readers that enjoy a great mystery. This is the first book by Karen Slaughter and I enjoyed the writing style and will be tempted to pick up more in the future.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Robert Dugoni’s newest series starts off with a stellar story that will hook readers and keep them guessing until the very end. Another well-crafted story by one of the very best.

Charles Jenkins thought he had left his spy days behind him decades ago. He has a wife, son, and a new baby on the while with his security business is falling apart. Just when things are at their worst, his past comes back into the present when his former bureau chief shows up with an assignment for him that could save him financially. He must travel to Moscow to find a secret Russian agent supposed to have been killing members of a US spy cell known as the seven sisters. With no other alternative, Charles agrees to the mission and heads to Russia where he finds what he least expects, the eighth sister. His mission doesn’t go off without complications and he finds himself trying to escape with no help from his country and risks his life to get back to his family he left behind.

In typical Robert Dugoni fashion. readers are given a thriller that is unlike anything written by most authors out there. When Dugoni writes a thriller, readers are going to be pulled in and given a story they will be thinking about for days after they turn the last page. I loved the way he tied in David Sloane even though this was not a David Sloane novel. Charles Jenkins looks to be a stellar lead character for this new series and is able to bring in secondary characters that I can’t wait to see how they are further developed in future novels. The first half plays out as more of a spy thriller and the second half goes more into a legal thriller. Each are great in their own way and are still able to drive the story forward with tension between the characters and what is going to happen. This is very different from the Tracy Crosswhite series, which is my absolute favorite series. I was a little skeptical going into this that it wouldn’t live up to my expectations, but I am happy to say this was another great read by Dugoni. I really enjoyed the start to this new series and can’t wait to see what will come next. I recommend this to readers that enjoy Dugoni’s writing style and a great spy/legal thriller. If you have never read anything by Dugoni, the start of this series would be a great place to begin your journey.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.